Multiple flow valve



Nov. 7, 1961 R. A. wHlTLocK 3,007,495

MULTIPLE FLow VALVE Filed March 1s, 195s 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 7, 1961 R. A. wHrrLocK MULTIPLE: FLow vALvF.

Filed March l5, 1958 United States Patent fr;

3,007,495 MULTIPLE FLOW VALVE Robert Alfred Whitlock, Rockford, Ill., assigner to Aquamatic Inc., Rockford, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 13, 1958, Ser. No. 721,249 Claims. (Cl. 137-624.218)

This invention relates to a multiple ilow control Valve and particularly to a valve for controlling the various flows of uid to and from a water treating apparatus.

Various important objects of this invention are to provide an hydraulically operated control valve which is of simple and compact construction; which requires la minimum of external connections to install the valve in the iluid treatment apparatus, and which is reliable in operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a multiple ilow control valve for -a water treatment apparatus, which valve includes an ejector and a valve member movable from a service position to a regeneration position to pass fluid to the ejector and has a selectively operable ejector by-pass built into the valve casing Y:for providing a rapid rinse through the treatment apparatus.

Another object of this invention is to provide a control valve in accordance with the foregoing object in which the rapid rinse by-pass is so arranged as to prevent the passage of raw water to service in the event that the Irapid rinse by-pass leaks d-uring the service run. Y

A further object of this invention is to provide a control valve in accordance with the foregoing objects and which has a ilow regulating device in the rapid rinse bypass to maintain a substantially constant rinse rate.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a flow responsive device for actuating the valve member of the control valve from the service position to the regeneration position thereof Iand which ow responsive device is arranged to reliably maintain the valve member in its regeneration position notwithstanding changes in pressure on the valve member as occur during opening and closing of the service valve or the .rapid rinse by-pass.

These, together with various ancillary objects and advantages of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE l is a fragmentary longitudinal section through the control valve shown connected to a water treatment apparatus and illustrating the control valve in its service position;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View through the control valve, and illustrating the same during the rapidrinse phase of the regeneration cycle;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the plane 3 3 of FIGURE 2; `and FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

The valve member of the present invention is particularly adapted for use in a base exchange type water treatment apparatus and is shown in FIG. 1 operatively connected to such a treatment apparatus including a treatment tank 11 and a regenerant tank 12. The valve member 10 includes a casing, preferably formed of a Iunitary hollow cast body 13 which is open at the upper end thereof. The body has spaced partitions 14 and 15 therein, which partitions have central openings for receiving upper and lower valve seat inserts 16 and 17, respectively. As best shown in FIG. 2, the insert 17 has a ange on one end dimensioned to pass freely through the opening in the upper partition 14 and is arranged to be pressed into the opening in the lower partition to thereby enable assembly of the lower valve insert through the open top of the valve body. A resilient gasket 18 underlies the ange on the lower insert to seal the same to the lower partition. The upper insert 16 is threaded into the upper partition and is slotted on the upper end thereof to enable -assembly of the same by means of a tool inserted through the open upper end of the body. The partitions I4 and 15 separate the valve body 13 into `an intermediate chamber 19 between the partition inserts; an upper chamber 21 and a lower chamber 22. The inserts 16 and I7 in the partitions have ports 16a and 17a therein which communicate the intermediate chamber 19 with the lower chamber 22, respectively.

As shown in FIG. l, the valve body has a fluid inlet passage 24 which communicates with the intermediate chamber 19 and a valve member 25 is disposed in the intermediate chamber and movable therein `for controlling the flows through the upper and lower ports 16a and 17a. The valve member has a diameter smaller than the opening in the Aupper partition 14 and is positioned in the intermediate chamber after mounting the lower valve seat insert in the partition 15 and before assembling the upper insert on the partition 14. The valve member has an axial length less than the spacing between the valve seat inserts 16 and 17 and has resilient gaskets 26 and 27 seated in grooves adjacent the top and bottom sides thereof. A guide stem 23 is provided on the lower end of the valve member and loosely extends through the lower port 17a to guide the lower end of the valve member and an operating stem is connected to the upper end of the valve member and extends upwardly through the upper port 16a. A raw water ofutlet passage 31 is provided in the valve body in communication with the upper chamber 21 therein and is connected through a line 32 to one end of the treatment tank 11. A service passage 33 is provided in the valve body in communication with the lower chamber 22 and arranged for connection to a service line 34.

In accordance with the present invention, the ejector 36, the rapid rinse by-pass 37 and the service by-pass 38 are all mounted on the valve casing so that it is only necessary to make the connections to the treatment tank 11, the regenerant tank 12, the drain line 39 and the service line 34 in order to install the valve. In particular, the valve body 13 has au extension 41 on the end thereof adjacent the lower chamber 22, which extension is threaded for connection to the conduit 42 leading to the other end of the treatment tank 11. An inverted generally V-shaped partition 4.3 is formed in the valve body and separates the lower chamber 22 from the treated fluid passage 41a, which partition has walls 43a and 43b extending obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the valve member. The valve member also has outer wall portions 44 and 45 which respectively extend in spaced relation to the wall portions 43a and 43h, as is clearly shown in FIGS. l and 2.

The ejector 36 includes a nozzle 46 and a throat 47, threaded into an enlarged boss 48 on the wall 43h. The nozzle 46 has the inlet end thereof in communication with the chamber 22 and is arranged to direct a stream of water through the throat 47 to thereby draw regenerant through the regenerant inlet passage 49 formed in the' boss 48, the combined stream of regenerant and Water passing through the throat 47 into the treated fluid passage 41a. The regenerant inlet passage 49 is connected through a conduit 51 and a regenerant control valve 52 to the regenerant tank 12. The regenerant control valve 52 may be of any conventional construction and is arranged to open and permit regenerant to be withdrawn from the line 51, when fluid is passed through the nozzle 46 into the throat 47, until a preselected quantity of regenerant has been withdrawn from the tank, at which time the valve 52 terminates the tlow through the line 51. During refill,V fluid flows through the nozzle 56 and through the pipe S1 and valve S2 into the regenerant tank, until the liquid level therein reaches a preselected upper level, at which time the valve 52 closes and prevents further ow of uid into the regenerant tank.

The wall 45 of the valve body has an opening 54 therein aligned with the nozzle 46, to permit insertion and withdrawal of the nozzle and throat, and a plug 55 is threaded into the opening 54 to close the same. Conveniently, the plug 55 is counterbored to receive a Cylindrical screen 56 and to support the same around the inlet end of the nozzle 46, for filtering the flow of fluid to the nozzle.

During the service run, raw water enters the passage 24 and flows through the port 16a, raw water passage 31 and conduit 32 to the treatment tank and treated water from the tank liows through conduit 42 to the treated water passage 41a. The treated water entering passage 41a Hows through the service by-pass 38, through the chamber 22 and service passage 33 to the service line 34 when the service valve (not shown) is opened. The service by-pass 33 includes a passage 58 in the wall 43a of the partition 43, which passage communicates the treated water passage 41a with the chamber 22. A check valve, herein shown in the form of a resilient flap valve 59, is aliixed to the wall 43a and arranged to open to permit flow of fluid from the passage 41a to the chamber 22 and to close to prevent return flow. The wall 44 of the valve body has an access opening 61 formed therein and a plug 62 is threaded into the opening to close the same.

During regeneration, the valve member 24 is raised to thereby direct the water from the inlet passage 24 through the lower port 17a to the inlet of the ejector 36. The check valve 59 closes to prevent iiow from the chamber 22 through the service by-pass passage 5S so that the raw water flows through the ejector nozzle 46 to draw brine through the conduit Si and discharge the mixed water and brine into the passage 41a. After a preselected quantity of regenerant has been drawn into the apparatus, the regenerant valve S2 closes so that only raw water ows through the ejector to thereby slowly rinse the bed of exchange material in the tank 11.

In some applications it is advantageous to provide a relatively more rapid rinse after a period of slow rinse operation. The rapid rinse by-pass 37 is provided for passing raw water from the chamber 22 into the treated fluid passage 41a and a solenoid operated valve is arranged to control the ilow of iiuid through the rapid rinse by-pass. In particular, the rapid rinse by-pass 37 includes a passage 64 formed in the partition wall 43h and a pressure responsive flow regulating device disposed in the passage and supported on the partition Wall for maintaining a preselected rate of ilow from the chamber 22 to the treated fluid passage 41a, when the rapid rinse by-pass is open. In the specific form illustrated, the iow regulating device includes a housing 65 which is pressed into the passage 64 in the divider wall and which supports an orifice plate 66 having a substantially V-shaped seat 66a. A diaphragm member 67, having a central guide stem 68 and peripheral guide ribs 69, is disposed on the seat 66a to regulate the ow of uid through the orifice plate 66. A retainer plate 71 having a valve 71a thereon is mounted at the upper end of the housing 65. A solenoid operated valve 73 is threaded into an opening 74 in the wall 45 of the valve body and has a plunger 76 thereon movable toward and away from the valve seat 71a to control the flow of fluid through the rapid rinse bypass. The plunger is normally urged by a spring 77 to a position blocking ilow through the rapid rinse by-pass, and is opened in response to energization of the solenoid 73 to permit Huid to flow from the chamber 22 into the passage 41a and through conduit 42 to the treatment tank 11 to provide a rapid rinse therefor. The plunger 78 is preferably longitudinally uted as shown in FIG. 3 to supply fluid under pressure from the chamber 22 to the end of the plunger remote from the seat 71a. This eliminates the dash-pot elect and substantially equalizes the liuid pressure on opposite ends of the plunger. At the completion of the rinse cycle, the solenoid 73 is deenergized whereby the plunger 76 is moved by spring 77 to close the rapid rinse by-pass. It is to be noted, however that if the plunger 76 fails to completely close the rapid rinse by-pass, any leakage which occurs will not eiect the quality of the water during the service run since, during service, only treated water can iiow through the rapid rinse by-pass into the chamber 22 and out to service.

The valve of the present invention is arranged to be hydraulically operated from its service position shown in FlG. l to its regeneration position shown in FIG. 2. For this purpose, an enlarged head is attached to the upper end of the stern 29 so as to normally be disposed between the raw water outlet passage 3l and the drain passage '56 which is formed in the valve body above the raw water outlet passage. The head `85 is assembled onto the stem after the upper insert 16 is threaded into the partition 16 and, as shown, is supported on a reduced diameter end portion on the stem 29 and is retained thereon by a washer and cotter pin 81 and 82. A cap 83 is threaded into the top of the valve to close the same after the Valve inserts, the valve member 25, and the head 35 have been assembled therein.

The valve member 25 and head 85 are formed of a material having a density greater than Water to normally gravitate to its lowered position shown in FIG. l. In accordance with the present invention, the head is formed with an axial length which is greater than the amplitude of movement of the valve member 25 between the lower seat 17 and the upper seat 16 and an annular flange or wall S7 is provided on the valve body and arranged to closely surround the head 85' in all operative positions thereof to guide the head and to define a restricted opening therebetween. Thus, when the valve member 25 is seated on the lower seat 17, as shown in FIG. 1, the llange 87 extends into closely spaced adjacency to the periphery of the head S5 and defines a restricted flow passage therebetween. Consequently, the lluid liowing from the upper chamber 2l past the flange 87 and through the drain passage 86 will impinge upon the head 8S and aid in raising the valve member to its regeneration position shown in FIG. 2. Since the head has an axial length greater than the amplitude of movement of the valve member, the ange 87 also extends closely adjacent the periphery of the head, as the latter moves to its raised position.

Flow through the drain passage 36 and drain line 39 is controlled by a normally closed valve 91. The valve is conveniently operated by a solenoid 92 to its open position, which solenoid is connected through conductors 94 to a timer 93. The timer 93 may also be used to control the rapid rinse by-pass solenoid 73 and, as shown in FIG. 1, is connected thereto by conductors 95. When the drain valve is initially opened, the water which tlows to the drain passage 86 impinges on the head 85 and raises the valve member. As the valve member 25 approaches the upper valve seat insert 16, the water impinging on the underside of the valve member aids in lifting the same and tends to move the valve member rapidly to a seated position against the upper insert 16. In order to reduce the rate at which the valve member moves to its upper seated position, to thereby reduce the shock incident to rapid seating of the valve member on the upper insert, the drain valve 91 or the drain line 39 between the drain valve 91 and the drain chamber 90, is restricted to reduce the rate of liow therethrough to a value only slightly greater than the rinse rate through the rapid rinse by-pass 37. Since the head 85 has the periphery thereof disposed closely adjacent the flange 87, substantially all the water above the head, as the valve member moves to its upper position, must be passed through the restricted drain line 39 and drain valve 91.

This produces a dash-pot effect which reduces the rate of movement of the valve member to its upper seated position and thus reduces the shock incident thereto.

` When the valve member reaches its raised position, the direction of flow of fluid through the valve is reversed to ow downwardly -through the port 17a to the ejector 37, passage 41a and conduit t2 to the treatment tank lll, the efiiuent from the treat-ment tank flowing through conduit 32 and passage 3l past the plunger 8S to the drain passage 86. In order to reduce the back pressure on the ejector, during the regenerant injection phase of the regeneration cycle, the lower edge of the head 85' is beveled slightly, as indicated at 85a, to increase the flow area between the plunger and the flange 87, when the valve member is in its raised position. Although this reduces the pressure unbalance on the plunger, when the valve member is in its raised position, it is to be noted that the valve member is itself subjected to substantially line pressure on the underside thereof while the upper side is exposed to a relatively reduced pressure, which pressure unbalance on the valve member is itself sufficient to maintain the valve member in its raised position. if the valve member moves an appreciable distance away from its raised position in which it engages the seat 16, the pressures on the top and bottom of the valve member are substantially equalized. However', the plunger S then moves to a position in which the periphery thereof extends closely adjacent the ange 87 so that the pressure unbalance on the plunger is again effective to raise the valve member.

The timer 93 is arranged to energize the solenoid 92 after a prolonged period corresponding to the normal service run of the apparatus to thereby open the drain valve 91 and effect movement of the valve mem-ber 25 to its raised position. As previously described, this causes water to ow through the injector 35 and draws regenerant from the tank 11. After a preselected quantity of regenerant has been introduced, the valve 52 closes and starts the slow rinse of the exch-ange bed. The timer engages the solenoid 73, a period of time after energizing the solenoid 92 corresponding to the time required for the regeneration Iand slow rinse phase,rto open thev rapid rinse by-psass valve 37 to rapidly rinse the bed of. exchange material. At the completion of the regeneration cycle, the timer de-energizes the solenoids 73 and 92 and permits the rapid rinse by-pass Valve 37 and the drain valve 91 to close. At the instant When the drain Valve closes, the pressure in the intermediate chamber 19 is appreciably greater than the pressure in the upper chamber 21 and this pressure unbalance acting on opposite ends of the valvemember 2S tends to maintain the same in its raised position. Water from the inlet therefore continues to flow to the ejector nozzle 46 and from the ejector nozzle through the throat 47 to the treatment tank ll. Since the drain valve is closed, this builds up the pressure in the conduit 32, tank l1 and conduit 42 and partially equalizes the pressures on opposite ends of the valve member 25. However, this also builds up the pressure at the outlet of the throat 47 and impedes further flow therethrough. The water iiowing through the nozzle then passes through the passage 49 and conduit 47 to the regenerant tank to fill the same. When the regenerant tank is filled, the regenerant control valve 52 closes and prevents further iiow through conduit 5l. The water flowing through the nozzle 46 is then forced through the throat 47 against the back pressure at the outlet side thereof and builds up the pressure in the conduit 42, tank l1 and conduit 32 to substantially line pressure. rIlhis equalizes the pressures on the top and bottom of the valve member 25 and permits the same to drop to its lowered position shown in FlG. l.

The aforedescribed construction provides relatively smooth operation of the valve member from a lowered position to its raised position. In addition, the plunger construction is effective to prevent unseating of the valve member, due to transient reductions in pressure at the underside of the valve member, as occur when the service line valve is rapidly opened and closed and also when the rapid rinse by-pass is opened, as shown in FIG. 2.

From the foregoing it Yis Iapparent that the ejector, the ejector service by-pass and the ejector rapid rinse by-pass are all mounted on the valve casing so as to minimize the number of external connections required to install the valve in a water treatment apparatus. Moreover, the ejector, the service by-pass and the rapid rinse by-pass are all compactly arranged on the valve casing and extend obliquely to the longitudinal axis thereof to simplify the arrangement of the cores and passages in the valve casing and to provide a compact overall assembly. In addition, this arrangement of the rapid rinse by-pass is such as to prevent the iiow of raw water to service during the service run, in the event the solenoid valve plunger 77 does not seat properly.

I claim:

1. A multipont valve comprising an elongated casing having first, second yand third chambers therein, a fluid inlet passage communicating with said first chamber, said casing having first and second ports therein aligned with the longitudinal axis thereof and providing communication between said first chamber `and said secon-d cham-ber and between said first chamber and said third chamber, respectively, a valve member in said rst chamber movable longitudinally of said casing from a position blocking flow through said secon-d port to a position blocking iiow through said first port, said icasing having a raw water outlet passage communicating with said second chamber, a service passage communicating with said third chamber, a treated iiuid passage at the end of said casing adjacent said third chamber, an ejector mounted in said oasing to extend obliquely to the longitudinal axis thereof and including a nozzle having the inlet thereof communicating with said third cham-ber and a throat having the discharge end thereof communicating with said treated fluid passage, a first by-pass passage communicating with said third chamber and said treated fluid passage and including a valve seat in said third chamber disposed in a plane extending obliquely to the longitudinal axis of said casing, an electro-responsive valve mounted on said casing and having a valve member thereon extending into said third chamber and cooperabie with said valve seat for selectively closing said first by-pass passage, and a second `by-pass passage means communicating with s-aid third chamber and with said treated iiuid passage and including a check valve operable to close to prevent flow from sm'd third chamber to said treated Huid passage and to open to permit flow from said treated fluid passage to said third passage.

2. A multiport valve comprising an elongated casing having first, second and third chambers therein, a fluid inlet passage communicating with said first chamber, said easing having first and second ports therein aligned with the longitudinal axis thereof and providing communication between said first chamber and said second chamber and between said rst chamber and said third chamber, respectively, a valve member in said first chamber movable longitudinally of said casing from a position blocking fiow through said second port to a position blocking iiow through said first port, said casing having a raw Water outlet passage communicating with said second chamber, a service passage communicating with said third chamber, a treated fluid passage at the end of said casing adjacent said third passage, said casing having a downwardly facing generally V-shaped partition therein separating said third chamber from said treated uid passage, an ejector mounted on said partition and including a nozzle having the inlet thereof :communicating with said third chamber and a throat having the discharge end thereof communieating with said treated iluid passage, said partition having first and second by-pass passages formed therein, an electro-responsive valve means ymounted on said casing and including a movable member extending into said third chamber for controlling the flow through said first bypass passage, and a check valve mounted on said partition for controlling the flow through said second by-pass passage.

3. A multiport valve comprising a casing Ihaving first, second and third chambers therein, a fluid inlet passage communicating with said first chamber, said casing having first and second ports therein providing communication between said first chamber and said second chamber and between said first chamber and said third chamber, respectively, a valve member in said first chamber movable from a position blocking flow through said second port to a position blocking flow through said first port, a raw water outlet passage communicating with said second chamber, a service passage communicating with said third chamber, a treated fluid passage in said casing, an ejector including a raw fluid inlet communicating with said third chamber; a regenerant fluid inlet; and an outlet communieating with said treated fluid passage and operative to pass a restricted flow of fluid from said third chamber to said treated fluid passage, a first by-pass means communicating with said third chamber and said treated fluid passage for passing a relatively rapid flow of fluid from said third chamber to said treated fluid passage, selectively operable valve means for controlling the flow of fluid through said by-pass means, said first by-pass means including a pressure responsive flow regulating valve for maintaining a substantially constant rate of flow therethrough when said valve means is open, and a second bypass means communicating with said third chamber and said treated fluid passage and including a check valve operable to open and permit flow from the treated fluid passage to said third chamber and to close to prevent return flow therethrough from said third chamber to said treated fluid passage.

4. A multiport valve comprising a casing having first, second and third chambers therein, a fluid inlet passage communicating with said first chamber, said casing having first and second ports therein providing communication between said first chamber and said second chamber and between said first chamber and said third chamber, respectively, a valve member in said first chamber movable between a position blocking flow through said second port and a position blocking flow through said first port, a raw water outlet passage communicating with said second chamber, a service passage communicating with said third chamber, said casing having a treated fluid passage with one end thereof disposed adjacent said third chamber, an ejector mounted in said casing and including a nozzle having the inlet thereof communicating with said third chamber and a throat having the discharge end thereof communicating with said treated fluid passage, a first by-pass means communicating with said third chamber and said treated fluid passage, a first valve means including a movable valve member for controlling the flow of fluid through said first by-pass means, said first by-pass means including a pressure responsive flow regulating Valve for maintaining a substantially constant rate of flow of fluid through said first by-pass means when said rst valve means is open, an electroresponsive means mounted on said casing for operating said first valve means, a second by-pass means communieating with said third chamber and said treated fluid passage, and a second valve means in said second by-pass means operable to close to prevent flow therethrough from said third chamber to said treated fluid passage and to open to permit flow therethrough from said treated fluid passage to said third chamber.

5. A multiport valve comprising a casing having first, second and third chambers therein, a fluid inlet passage communicating with said first chamber, said casing having first and second ports therein providing communication between said first chamber and said second chamber and between said first chamber and said third chamber, respectively, a valve member in said first chamber movable between a position blocking flow through said second port and a position blocking flow through said first port, a raw water outlet passage communicating with said second chamber, said casing having a treated fluid passage therein, an ejector mounted in said casing and including a nozzle having the inlet thereof communicating with said third chamber and a throat having the discharge end thereof communicating with said treated fluid passage, by-pass means communicating with said third chamber and with said treated fluid passage, valve means for controlling the flow of fluid through said by-pass means normally positioned to close said by-pass means, said bypass means including a pressure responsive flow regulating valve for maintaining a substantially constant rate of flow of fluid through said by-pass means when said valve means in said by-pass means is open, a drain passage communicating with said second chamber for passing fluid therefrom to drain, drain valve means controlling flow through said drain passage normally positioned to close said drain passage, a first electro-responsive means for opening said drain valve means, means connected to said valve member and responsive to the opening of said drain valve means for moving said valve member from a position blocking flow through said second port to a position blocking flow through said first port and opening said second port to supply water from said inlet to said third chamber, a second electro-responsive means for opening said Valve means in said by-pass means, and timer means for sequentially energizing said first electro-responsive means to open said drain valve means and for energizing said second electro-responsive means to open said valve means in said by-pass means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 570,727 Gale Nov. 3, 1896 2,715,098 Whitlock Aug. 9, 1955 2,751,347 Miller June 19, 1956 2,855,944 Albin Oct. 14, 1958 

